July 20, 2012

Well hello there, long time no post!! A lot has changed in the past few weeks since my last update. It has been almost 6 weeks since I had surgery on my right foot, and almost 3 weeks since I had surgery on my left foot. The toes on my right foot still have  some swelling in them, so I wrap them almost every day, but they LOOK SOOO GOOD!!  I have some concerns with the incision scars of the skin on top of my foot where I had the metatarsals cut. The way its healing, its making the incision kind of shiny and bubbly, like a keloid. During my check up, I brought this to the attention of my doc, who said it could take months for the incision to get better, but in the meantime, I needed to exercise my toes - bending them back and forth so the skin would become more pliable, and to continue using Mederma and vitamin E 2-3 times a day.

Here is my right foot 5 weeks post op. The toes are shorter than before and and are still swollen, but the scarring on the toes are getting better.



Also, the corns are gone, and the color is slowly returning to the areas where the corns were.

Here is the right foot 6 weeks post op. As you can tell, I'm trying to keep at least one foot looking decent until I can get a pedicure, so I'm changing my polish every few days. But AN-NE-WAYS, I just put Mederma and vitamin E on my foot in this pic, so its shinier than in the other pic, and it highlights the issue I am having with the incision scars on my metatarsals. The bottom of the scars seem to be more bulbous because the sutures are still dissolving under the skin. I went ahead and took doctor's orders and started stretching my toes, I also tape the incisions to kind of help flatten them out.

 

These are what I've been using to "wrap" my toes with lately. I was using the tape, but in order for them to stay on, I often wrapped them too tight. I got these little toe compressors from my podiatrist's office and they really help because they keep their shape and there's a little cushion that keeps the incision flat and also protects my toes when I put on shoes. I've also seen these little babies in CVS and Wal Mart as well, but I'd rather get them free from the doc's, especially since they charge my insurance so much anyway, they should be free!!! (IJS)

But here's my left foot!

2 Weeks Post-Op

Unfortunately, when I went in for my post-op, the doc noticed my 2nd and 3rd toes leaning a bit, so he retaped all of the toes so they'll sit correctly. And I'm confined to the boot for another week :(. But like I've said before, IT'S ALL TO THE GOOD because in the next few months, I won't even think about what my feet looked like before. Other than the cock-eyed toes, the doc said the bones are healing nicely in both feet, and he was so excited to see my feet because of how well they've been healing. Even my friends and relatives are shocked how much better my feet, well..right foot, looks so far. I hardly have any pain in my left foot, and I can walk without the boot with no pain (even though I still have to wear the boot)

Anyway, when the tape falls off (since I'm able to get my foot wet in the shower now), I'll take some more pics to show the progress of my left hoof, I mean foot. :)

Diet? I was on a diet???

Ok. Let me be straight up, I broke the freakin scale......

No, not because I got so big sitting on my butt eating doughnuts and cake all day, it's because I dropped the scale while cleaning, so I have no clue what I weigh. I went to Wal-Mart to get another scale the day before my 2nd surgery, but they hid them from me so I gave up searching. Hopefully I can get another scale this weekend to see what I've lost or gained, but honestly, I feel like I've gained a couple of pounds.

WHY??

I fell off the stupid wagon. I'm one of those people who if I feel like I'm doing well, I don't deprive myself if I get a hankering for something, and I try not to go overboard. Problem is, the past couple of weeks, my boyfriend has been home a lot, and he's not used to cooking, so we've had quite a bit of take-out for dinner (chinese, pizza, wings and fries, mexican, etc.) and let's face it. Since I haven't been on the meds in a while, I've also had a couple of margaritas. So, during the day, I've done well, but dinner has been a whole different story! I'm back on track now, especially since I still have to fit in my work clothes in a couple of weeks!

So the lesson for today is..... try your hardest to eat healthy as much as possible. That way, if you stray, it is not so hard to get back on track and it doesn't do too much damage.

I've also started doing a bit of pilates (off my feet, of course) and ab work for the past couple of weeks with the ok from my doctor. I basically do exercises from On-Demand, and fast-forward through the parts where I have to use or be on my feet.

I'll post next week about my progress. Hopefully I'll have good news, especially about my weight.

July 6, 2012

I can't believe it's almost been a month since I had surgery on my right foot (June 11th)!!! Since my last post, my foot has healed tremendously! I no longer wake up with pain in my foot, and even though my toes are still pretty swollen, the scarring is getting better daily and I can bear weight on my right foot without any issues.

The bottom picture is the most recent picture of my foot, taken yesterday. As you can see, most of the dark scabs have gone away and the incisions are completely healed. The skin looks really weird on my toes and at the base of my toes, but its slowly peeling away to reveal prettier feet underneath!

Yesterday, I also noticed that my corns were lifting on the 4th and 5th toes. I'm a picker by nature so I started messing with the corns, and they came right off, I couldn't believe it! So now, I'm hoping the skin where the corns were will go back to their natural color. Also my toes are still pretty dark from bruising so I'm hoping my foot will return to its regular color to match the rest of my body, lol.

SO WHAT ELSE HAS HAPPENED???

I got my left foot done!!! WOOOO HOOOO!! I initially wasn't supposed to get my left foot done for another 2-3 weeks, but because of my doctor's schedule and the awesome healing of my right foot, he gave me the ok to get my left foot done this past Monday, July 2nd.

My left foot was not as bad as my right foot; I still needed the hammertoes corrected, but the 2nd toe was the only one that needed to be shortened, and from what the doc told me, he didn't believe he needed to cut the metatarsal (that caused all the pain in the top of my right foot). He also cut a little bone out of the pinkie and removed the tailor's bunion.

BUT LET ME TELL YOU.... I would be sooo wrong if I didn't give the good and the bad of my experience. The day of the surgery, I expected the same process as my right foot;  to go in, get knocked out, and come to in the recovery area. THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED.

You know how they tell you not to eat or drink anything after midnight the day before surgery? Well, because my surgery was not scheduled until 1:00 p.m., I kind of OD'd on the water the night before. Aaaand, when you drink a lot of water, what happens? You pee a lot. So needless to say, I was still so hydrated that even though I was under twilight sleep, I had to pee so bad I woke up before they were finished with my surgery!!! And I felt them cut my pinkie! I will say, the pain was not as bad, it felt more of a burning sting than anything but I knew something was wrong. So I lifted my hand and the anesthesiologist immediately went to work putting me back to sleep. All I remember after that was them saying, "we're almost finished", and I felt a couple of stings in my toes ( I think they were numbing the area). After that, I felt nothing, and woke up right as they were about to take me out of the room. The nurses were very attentive and comforting to ensure I was not in any pain since I woke up during the surgery, and even though I was extremely sore shortly after, by the time I got home, I felt NOTHING for a good 24 hours.

The lesson here is to schedule your surgery as early as possible so you don't OD on water causing you to have to use the bathroom during your surgery!!!

Here's the pics...



The only downside is that I'm back in the boot!!! It's all good though, hopefully I'll be out of the boot 2 weeks earlier than I initially planned since I was able to get my left foot over with.

As far as pain in the left foot, it's been 4 days since surgery and I am still on the meds. The pain and soreness is lessening so I hope to not need the meds in the next couple of days.